Computer game first, fantasy world with coherent lore and narrative second.

Sucks, I know, but it's Warcraft, not tabletop D&D. It's always been like this. They've always said it's going to be like this. Personally, suspension of disbelief in order to mesh raiding with the overall game narrative hasn't been that jarring.

And besides - fuck the raid. 4.3 is about the fucking Transmog'ing. YOU'RE LOSING FOCUS OF WHAT'S IMPORTANT, ROLEPLAY NERDS.

That's all well and good, but until recently they've been able to keep the game fun without the story going to shit. The story's never exactly been great but it wasn't straight up -bad- like it is now.

I don't really buy that the story's bad because of gameplay. It might be more accurate to say it's bad because of a lack of writers with enough creativity to create a good story around that gameplay.

I know, probably too much to hope. I'm usually okay with some level of handwavery when it comes to time travel and paradoxes, but only as long as the story holds to its own universe's rules. So, yes, wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey. I'll reserve judgment until the battle's aftermath is revealed, and see if Weeping Jaina sobs anything to Nozdormu about restoring timelines.

But seriously- I do have a problem with time travel, and I do a lot of suspending disbelief whenever it's involved. And this version of it is even more confusing. So this dragon soul is basically not going to be effective against Deathwing- why are we going for it?

Getting a chance to see what the future might look like is something I'm looking forward to, though. That, and transmogging. And horse mounts for Gilneans. HELL YES, Kyraine can go buy a proper horse because Bastard's old and cranky now.

We're not actually stealing the Demon Soul from the past. We're borrowing it long enough to transmogrify some random doohicky just to look like it. Then we bring it back to our time and at the start of the Deathwing raid, and go "HEY, LOOK WHAT WE GOT!"

He'll be trying to figure out how we got it and what the hell is the point we're trying to make (much like we are now) for just enough time to hit him hard enough to put a crack in his armor. Now with a weak spot, the fight is on!

Insider: Can you tell us about the new 5-player dungeons that lead into the Deathwing raid?

Scott Mercer: The short version is that the players are sent on a series of quests to recover the Dragon Soul artifact so Thrall and the other dragonflights will have the firepower they need to confront Deathwing. The new 5-player dungeons involve the Caverns of Time and require the players to go forward in time to witness a future where Deathwing has destroyed the world. Then, from that bleak future, they must go back in time to the War of the Ancients to recover the Dragon Soul and bring it back to the present. We’ve discussed a lot more details on the new 5-player dungeons in other interviews. They're going to lead in directly to the patch 4.3 raid instance, which is called Dragon Soul. When the raid begins, the players have recovered the Dragon Soul artifact and arrive at Wyrmrest Temple to find it under siege by Deathwing’s forces.

Insider: Aside from a battle with Deathwing, what other encounters do you have planned for the Dragon Soul raid?

Scott Mercer: When players first arrive at Wyrmrest, they have to fight off a variety of Deathwing’s minions who are laying siege to the temple. There’s Morchok, a stone giant who is pounding the base of Wyrmrest, and Warlord Zon’ozz and Yor’sajh the Unsleeping, two servants of the Old Gods in league with Deathwing who are summoning more minions to sack the gates.

In addition to lifting the siege around Wyrmrest, the players also have to return to the Eye of Eternity to get the Focusing Iris so the Dragon Aspects can refocus their power into the Dragon Soul. We have some new gameplay elements in mind for these raids, including a mechanic where players are granted the ability to dodge a deadly attack from a twilight dragon by phasing away.

Insider: What details can you tell us about the Deathwing raid? How does it differ from other raids?

Scott Mercer: Dragon Soul is the most story-driven raid we’ve ever created. We’re even building several cut scenes to transition between the last three stages of the final encounter with Deathwing.

The first stage occurs as players are flying on an airship, chasing down Deathwing while his Twilight's Hammer drake riders are swooping in to harry the pursuit. In the second stage, players paratroop commando-style onto Deathwing’s back and start ripping up his armor, trying to pry a hole big enough to give Thrall a clean shot with the Dragon Soul. During this phase, players are actually riding on Deathwing as he’s swooping around and trying to knock the players off with barrel rolls and such. Players will have to hang on at key points in the fight to avoid falling while also tangling with all kinds of monstrosities that are rising out of Deathwing’s corrupted magma blood. Once the players get enough of Deathwing’s armor off, Thrall blasts Deathwing with the Dragon Soul and sends him crash-landing into the Maelstrom.Insider: Very cool! And the final stage?

Scott Mercer: Well, the interesting thing about Deathwing’s armor is that it wasn’t really built to keep things out--he doesn’t have to worry about weapons like swords and arrows. Instead it was built to keep things in. His body is this incredibly volatile mixture of corruptive energy and burning magma, so without his armor to hold it all together, he starts to lose it and come apart in all kinds of crazy ways. The final stage of the raid begins when Deathwing’s deformed body rises out of the Maelstrom to face off against the players in the final showdown. I won’t go into too much detail about this final stage, but I will say that it’s going to be unbelievably epic. Even in his weakened state, Deathwing still presents a major threat, and bringing him down will require the combined efforts of the players, Thrall, and even the other Dragon Aspects.

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Nope, looking like you get the actual Dragon Soul and then you just hold Deathwing off long enough for Thrall to throw his Dragon Spirit Bomb at it.

That's more like it! None of this rational explanation business!

...that said the fight sounds cool, even if it makes absolutely no sense and Thrall is Goku now.